LOCAL PHONE COMPETITORS SAY BELL ATLANTIC SHOULD LIVE UP TO NEW YORK PROMISES IN MASSACHUSETTS

Petitioners Tell Regulators Bell Atlantic Should Have to File Massachusetts 'Roadmap'

News Bureau Media Relations 800-644-NEWS Investors Scott Hamilton 601-460-4981

BOSTON, MA, July 21, 1999 -- Massachusetts consumers and businesses shouldn't have to settle for fewer benefits of competition than their neighbors in New York simply because Bell Atlantic is afraid of losing its 98% control of the local phone market, several competitive local phone providers and an industry group representing more than 700 local and long distance service providers told the Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications and Energy (DTE) in a joint petition late Tuesday.

MCI WorldCom, RCN Becocom, RNK Telecom, Sprint, TelEnergy and the Telecommunications Resellers Association told the DTE that it should ask Bell Atlantic, at a minimum, to agree to the same conditions for opening the local phone market to competition that it voluntarily committed to in New York more than a year ago. Those conditions include:

1. Third-party testing of critical Bell Atlantic operations support systems (OSS), which allow customers to switch from Bell Atlantic to a competitor;

2. Establishment of a collaborative process to determine how Bell Atlantic will provide competitors access to the lines into customers' homes and buildings without service disruptions, and;

3. Detailed performance standards that will measure how Bell Atlantic deals with competitors and prevent it from "backsliding" or purposely thwarting competitors' attempts to break into the local phone market.

"Bell Atlantic already has asked Massachusetts regulators to endorse its entry into the long distance market here, but we believe it's premature to even begin this discussion before the citizens of this state know how Bell Atlantic will complete the critical first step of opening the local phone market," said Chris McKeown, president of TelEnergy Inc. "The federal Telecommunications Act of 1996 is unmistakably clear. Bell Atlantic must comply with the law and irreversibly open its local phone markets before it's allowed to offer its customers long distance service."

The petitioners told the DTE that competitors must be given a clear explanation of what Bell Atlantic plans to do to open the local market before they can comment on its application to offer long distance service in Massachusetts. The first round of comments on that application, which was filed May 24, were due Monday.

"We have to be careful not to put the cart before the horse," said David Gusky, executive vice president of the Telecommunications Resellers Association. "To date, Bell Atlantic has fallen woefully short of living up to its federal requirements to make market conditions favor competitive entry. Its long distance application shouldn't even be considered until Bell Atlantic has completed the necessary task of opening the local market."

Competitors told the DTE that the commitments Bell Atlantic has made in New York have allowed at least one competitor -- MCI WorldCom -- to begin offering statewide residential local phone service there, in direct competition with Bell Atlantic. Although MCI WorldCom's marketing campaign has been limited due to continued problems with Bell Atlantic's ordering systems, the company still has managed to attract more than 120,000 customers by appealing to its existing long distance base.

"We've seen that New York consumers are excited about choice and the benefits it brings," said Robert Lopardo, MCI WorldCom's regional director of law and public policy for the Northern Region. "We look forward to the day when we are able to offer Massachusetts customers the same benefits, including lower rates, improved service and new and innovative products."

The DTE should refuse to even consider Bell Atlantic's long distance application unless Bell Atlantic agrees, at a minimum, to adopt the same conditions for opening its local market in Massachusetts as it has in New York, the petitioners said.

"We look forward to reviewing a Massachusetts roadmap that takes into account the unique aspects of this market and offers consumers here no less than the same benefits their neighbors in New York are beginning to see today," said Joy Tessier, vice president of RNK Telecom of Stoughton, MA.

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